Notes

James G Winter (Winters) was the brother of Wiley Winter (Winters)whose family has other connections with the Jenkinses and otherfamilies in Cass County, Texas. The name is spelled Winter incensuses and most records, but on occasion it is Winters. It is foundas Winters in several genealogies. It seems that Winter is theprimary form.

The husband of Nell Jenkins, daughter of Joseph Sanford Jenkins, wasknown in the Jenkins family as Jim Winters, but no details were known. Wiley's son Nelson married Nell's younger sister, Sarah Catherine.This connection and the family's location in Cass County led me toJames G, brother of Wiley. The family name is recorded variously asWinter or Winters. I believe the original family name was Winter, butsome family sources as well as censuses use the plural spelling.

In the 1850 census, an individual who appears to be this James (Jim)Winter(s) is in a mixed household of two families. There are twohouseholds and three families related in the first entries of thisPrecinct. James is enumerated as a member of the household and familyof William Thomson. William is next door to of Benjamin Winter, whowas also born in Alabama. Benjamin's wife appears to be a member ofthe Thomson family, but the configuration is not clear. Mary J Winterwas born in Pennsylvania, as was John B Thomson and two youngerThomsons in their household as Family #2.

The next door Household and family are also Thomsons, with some othersin that household. William Thomson's wife Davis was born in Alabama,suggesting that she is also perhaps a Winter. But I have found nocorrelation with other Winter women I have documented in the CassCounty family.

Caroline has no surname, and no ditto mark to indicate the name wasWinter. Ancestry interprets her surname as Winter. I have noCaroline Winter(s) in the documentation I have found. We might thinkJames and Caroline are children of Davis Thomson from a previousmarriage. But James' mother was Lavinia Elliot McDaniel. He isreported here with the middle initial J.

In 1860, James is in the same area, but now in the household ofWilliam Millsop.

I later found, through Ancestry.com, James' Confederate armyregistration card. This indicates they were still in Cass County in1862, and he enrolled in the Confederate army as a Private. Thisregistration does not indicate whether James was married. I havefound no record of his marriage to Nell Jenkins.

Marion County, where the card says the company was initiallystationed, is the county south of Cass, bordering Louisiana.

"Essie (Christian) Walkup is reported as believing that Nell Jenkinsmarried a Jim Winters (probably of Cass County, Texas), one of severalbrothers including Troy Winters."-- Harold Christian, "Jenkins Family History,"http://objgenealogy.com/articles/josephsanfordjenkinshistory.pdf, p 3

I found a listing in the 1870 census in a nearby county, which matchesour James G Winters, under the name James G WInter. This could be thesame person as the Jim Winter(s) who married Nell Jenkins. But thewife reported here is named Mary. She is 10 years older than Nell,who is reported by Jenkins family sources as born in 1846. If this isthe same James G Winter(s), then Nell must have died before 1870.They could not have been married very long.

We have no details or death date for Nell, so at this point I do notknow if she died early, of if her husband Jim was married again. I amincluding this census entry here for reference, with these clues asreference points for confirming if this is the same James/Jim Winter.The birth dates, we have seen over and over, are wildly varying in thecensuses, and other records. This could be Nell Jenkins with thefirst name Mary: Mary Nell. Family lore knows here only as Nell withno other name, but records and remembrances are few. The oldest childis 10 (though Ancestry.com incorrectly transcribes the age as 16instead of 10), so would have been born in about 1860. Jim and Nellcould have married in 1860 after the census, but that would still bestretching it.